Wire-bound box.



E. E. FLORA.

WIRE BOUND BOX.

APPLICATION FILED 1320.4, 1905.

Patented Dec.22, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.'

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OEEIOE. j

ELLSWORTH E. FLORA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL WIRE BOUND BOX COMPANY, or SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, A

CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

WIRE-BOUND Box.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

Application led December 4, 1905. l Serial No. 290,216.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLswoRTH E. FLORA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Iire-Bound Boxes, of whichY y fastened to the cleats, and the edges of the sheets overlap to form suitably close and strong joints at the corners.

In boxes of the wire-bound type it has been usual hitherto, as shown, for example, in United States Patent No. 799854, granted on the application of Inwood and Lavenberg, September 19, 1905, to step-miter the cleats and to fasten the box-ends with nails or staples against the inner sides of the cleats. The operation of stepmitering the cleat-ends with desired accuracy has been found to be a matter of some difficulty, and fastening the box-ends in place with nails or staples is objectionablel on account of the labor involved and want of strength incident' to this manner of fastening,

My object is to provide a wire-bound box blank of an im roved construct-ion which overcomes the o jections incident to blanks hitherto constructed, and to provide an improved box employing the said' blank, all with a view .to rendering the box more sightly, stronger, Vand less expensive to manufacture.

In the drawings- Figure l is a perspective view of a box, or shipping case, constructed in accordance .with my improvements; Fig. 2 a similar view of the, box with the coverportion open and one end removed; Figs. 3 and 4," plan and edge views, respectively, on a reduced scale, illustrating my improved box-blank; and Fig. 5, an enlarged, broken, fragmentary view of a corner of the box and I illustrating a modified form of interlocking means.

The box A is formed of a front board, or sheet, a, a bottom-sheet b, a back sheet c, and a top, or cover, sheet d, all preparatorily cut to the proper dimensions with straight edges. The sheets are reinforced on their inner sides at their opposite ends, by companion cleats e, f, g, 71l and on the outer sides of the sheets are end binding wires t' and an intermediate binding wire lc. The ends of the box are formed by boards or sheets 'Z also perparatorily cut to the proper size. All the cleats are provided, in their inner edges, with longitudinally extending grooves 1n of proper width to receive and steadily hold the edges of the end-sheets Z. As shown in the drawings, the strips from which the cleats are formed may he of a thickness approximating three times that of the end-sheets, the grooves m being midway between the sides of the cleats and therefore flanked by inaterial approximating the thickness of the sheets. The'locations of the grooves in the cleats and the relative thickness of the cleats may be varied as desired. The opposite ends of the intermediate cleats f, g, are rabbeted, as shown, to form recesses n, each preferably of a depth equal to one-half the thickness of the cleats and of a width or length approximating the depth of the cleats. also provided with recesses n; and as shown in Fi s. 2- and 3, the recesses in the cleat-ends are a ternately at the outer and inner sides to cause the cleats to lap and mutually engage when the blank is folded. The cleats fh terminate short of the edges of the sheets to which theyare fastened a distance equal to, or ap roximating, the thickness of the sheets, W ile the cleats g extend flush with the edges of the sheet c. The cleats e extend from the inner edge of the sheet a short of the outer or free ed e thereof, as shown. The cleats e are rovi ed at their outer ends, in the preferre verse recesses and ,tongues or shoulders q; and the cleats iii) are provided near their outer ends with recesses 1', capable of fitting over the tongues or shouldersl g, and tongues or shoulders s of a sizev just capable of entering construction, with trans.

- the tongues q to enter the recesses r,

the spaces, between the tongues g and edge of the sheet a, formed by the grooves or recesses p.

In order that wire-bound boxes of the present type may be constructed with the necessary accuracy and economy the prep aratorily formed in Fig. 3, must be stitched or stapled together by machinery especially devised for the purpose. One machine capable of turning out box-blanks like the present is shown and described in the application of Inwood and Lavenberg, which will issue December 5,

1905, being Patent No. 806,411. In the o eration of such a machine the sheets and c eats are assembled in properly spaced relation and passed beneath stitchers which lay the binding wires and staple the wires, sheets and cleats together. At the outer wires c' the staples pass over the wires, through the sheets, and into the cleats. The wire k is fastened by means of staples which pass through the sheets and are clenched on the under sides of the latter.

As I prefer to construct the blank, the intermediate wire, lc extends beyond opposite ends ofthe blank, as shown, while the wires i extend somewhat short of the free edge of the cover d and beyond the tree edge et' the front a, fas indicated. When, or as, the blank is formed it is folded around the boxends Z, edges of the latter entering the grooves' m of the cleats f, e, g. In the folding of the blank-members at a right angle the rabbeted ends of the cleats lap, and mutually engage, and at each corner the edge of one sheet overlaps the end of another. As the wood of which the sheets are formed possesses slight resilience the wires i, 7c will impress themselves slightly into the sheet-edges during the folding operation and be sprung outward again to a slight extent whenthe folding is accomplished, whereby in practice the wires indent but slightly the corner edges of the box while holding the parts closely together. If desired, the edges of the end sheets Z may be glued in the grooves m of the cleats @,f, g.

Then the box is filled with merchandise for shipment the cover d is closed, causing the grooves m of the cover-cleats h to receive the upper edges of the ends l, the tongues s t0 enter the recesses p of the front-cleats e, and whereby the cover d and front a interlock. jcetng ends of the wires 'i may be drawn over the edge of the cover d and stapled down as indicated wires k may be twisted together and, if desired, provided with a sefl which will preparts of the blank, shown.

'n Fig. 1; while the ends of the The proshown, hold the cover down with great firmness and the interlocking of the parts s q operate greatly to strengthen the box in a manner to render gluing ofthe ends in the grooves m unnecessary when such gluing is not desired. The blanks and ends may be shipped in the knock-down and readily formed into boxes by the user.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 5 the ends of the cleats e h are formed with interlocking dovetails t instead of with the interlocking tongues and grooves described.

A box formed with cleats having rabbeted mutually engaging ends is stronger and more sightly than a box provided with stepmitered cleats, as hitherto provided; and ends inserted in cleat-grooves and forming anels are much firmer than ends stapled or nailed to the cleats. The operation ot' rabbeting cleat-ends is more simple and on the whole less expensive than step-mitering.

Furthermore, by placing the ends of the box midway of instead of at the inner sides of the cleats, a box of the same capacity may be formed with less lumber and smaller outside dimensions. As the cleats have to be made ot' the proper dimensions in any case the additional cost of' forming the grooves m is practically immaterial. i

As shown in the drawings, the cleats 7L, j have the recesses n on their inner sides, and the cleats g, c have iecesses n on their outer sides. Therefore, as the blank is folded, the cleats engage in a mamier to lock the adjacent edges of the sheets against relative sliding. This feature .of the construction contributes materially to the stability of the sheets and strength of the box, whether the box-ends are held by engagement with grooves m or are fastened against the sides of the cleats.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-- 1. A wire-bound foldable box-blank, comprising, in combination, a plurality of straight-edged sheets, wires connecting the sheets in longitudinal series and extending the full length of the series, and -cleats formed with rabbeted mutually engageable ends, the wires, sheets and cleats being stitched together and the cleats being in endto-end spaced relation, the whole being constructed and arranged to cause the rabbeted adjacent cleat ends, in the operation of folding the blank, to engage with each other and lock adjacent sheets against relative sliding, and cause one sheetto overlap the end of the adjacent sheet at box corners.

2. A wire-bound foldable box-blank, comprising, in combination, a plurality of clude tampering with the contents of the box straight-edged sheets, wires connecting the by unauthorized persons. The end-portions ot the wires e, bent over and stapled, as

sheets in longitudinal series, and cleats formed with mutually engageable ends, the

Wires, sheets and cleats ,being stitched togetber, the cleats being in end to end spaced relation and the cover and front cleats being formed with transverse mutually interlocking tongues and grooves, whereby in the folding of the blank the cleats muuually engage,

one sheet overlaps the end of an adjacent sheet` at each box-corner, and the cover and front cleats interlock.

ELLSWORTH E. FLORA.

In presence of- JosEPH H. LANDES, M. S. MAcKENzIE. 

